We said yesterday that the 2014 World Poker Tour (WPT) Caribbean Main Event was a small tournament and perhaps surprisingly, the second starting flight was not much bigger than the first. On Tuesday, just 61 players paid the $3,500 to try to earn a WPT title, almost exactly the same as the 57 that played on Day 1A. 28 advanced to Day 2 and are combining on Wednesday with the 25 who advanced from Day 1A into a single field. Jonathan Roy heads into the official second day of competition with a massive chip lead. At 236,700 chips, he bested his closest competitor on Day 1B by 100,000 and is 53,000 ahead of Day 1A’s chip leader, Bruce Kramer.
Jonathan Roy is quite familiar with amassing chips in World Poker Tour events. In 2012, he won the WPT Montreal Main Event and over three-quarters of a million dollars. He also finished third in the WPT World Championship, good for $421,800. Those finishes, as well as two more WPT cashes, allowed Roy to come in second in the WPT Season XI Player of the Year standings. Matt Salsberg won it that season thanks to six cashes, three final tables, and one title, earned at the WPT Grand Prix de Paris.
Overall, despite having over $2 million in live earnings, Jonathan Roy has only 17 recorded live cashes. Pretty good at taking advantage of the opportunities, though.
The 118 entrants into the WPT Caribbean Main Event created a prize pool of $366,272. The winner will receive $127,680 and payouts will go down to fifteen spots. So, going into Day 2, less than 40 eliminations are needed to burst the money bubble. And that is actually the plan today, to play all the way down to the top fifteen players. The first blind level on Wednesday will last for 60 minutes, while all subsequent levels will be 90 minutes long.
2014 World Poker Tour Caribbean Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders
1. Jonathan Roy – 236,700
2. Anthony Zinno – 136,900
3. Frederic Maniez – 128,900
4. Dan Murariu – 111,500
5. Mihai Manole – 98,600
6. Christophe Rosso – 98,400
7. Jon Gray – 80,600
8. Julio Belluscio – 72,900
9. Sabina Hiatullah – 72,200
10. Dany Parlafes – 70,800
2014 World Poker Tour Caribbean Main Event – Combined Day 1 Chip Leaders
1. Jonathan Roy – 236,700
2. Bruce Kramer – 183,800
3. Mike Linster – 146,400
4. Anthony Zinno – 136,900
5. Alain Medesan – 133,300
6. Frederic Maniez – 128,900
7. Ben Wilinofsky – 128,500
8. Mike Leah – 121,000
9. Dan Murariu – 111,500
10. Allyn Shulman – 107,700
